rider 311 clone

[Dangermouse 2nd]

Well I sent off for a Rider 311 plane a couple weeks ago. the photo of it made it look a very nice plane, for not too much money £83. Well dear friends was I in for a surprise. When I got it and unwrapped it from a very nice solid carboard box with lovely gold writing on it, I found a load of dung ! the finish on the sides and base was fair, but on the top surface it looked like it had been chewed by a rat, or at least a 5 year old let loose with a grinding wheel and the same kid did the brass iron clamp, top ok but the sides rubbish! To top off this cake the bull nose piece had also been got at by the grinder and the locating pins had been hammered in flush with the surface and therefore would not locate to the rest of the plane body. so off it went winging its way back to its suppliers for a refund...... so unless this was a isolated attempt by al qaeda to stamp out woodworking in Cornwall at a stroke, you might have better luck, I hope so..

 

[Bodgers]

Well I sent off for a Rider 311 plane a couple weeks ago. the photo of it made it look a very nice plane, for not too much money £83. Well dear friends was I in for a surprise. When I got it and unwrapped it from a very nice solid carboard box with lovely gold writing on it, I found a load of dung ! the finish on the sides and base was fair, but on the top surface it looked like it had been chewed by a rat, or at least a 5 year old let loose with a grinding wheel and the same kid did the brass iron clamp, top ok but the sides rubbish! To top off this cake the bull nose piece had also been got at by the grinder and the locating pins had been hammered in flush with the surface and therefore would not locate to the rest of the plane body. so off it went winging its way back to its suppliers for a refund...... so unless this was a isolated attempt by al qaeda to stamp out woodworking in Cornwall at a stroke, you might have better luck, I hope so..

I think these are made in India by Soba aren't they?

Axminster specifying a few more bells and whistles and the Rider printing on the side.

If you go to Chronos' website you can just buy the standard Soba stuff which is pretty much identical but cheaper.

This 311 is £51 there. That's probably closer to its real value. Maybe worth a punt to see if it is any better...

I bought the no. 92 clone shoulder plane from Chronos and apart from a touch of sole flattening I did, it was in pretty good shape overall. So it is possible you got a bad one.




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[Woody2Shoes]

I got one and - after a bit of squaring-up of the blade etc. it has been just fine. Not a patch on the Veritas shoulder planes but mine works just fine. It seems a shame that Axi quality control is not able to filter out the bad ones though. Cheers, W2S

 

[Honest John]

I bought the Rider 3 in 1 shoulder plane a few years ago when I was down near Axminster and it seemed a shame not to call in. I had some tools with me which fortunately included an engineering square that I knew to be true. They had three in stock and I checked them all. 2 of them were awful and not fit for purpose. The third one was actually spot on in every respect, square flat and true in all senses and has been excellent only requiring a bit of honing to the blade. This required less fettling than any plane I’ve ever had. I pointed out the faults of the other 2 to the assistant, but I recon they just went straight back on the shelf for sale. I wouldn’t buy any kit like that from any vendor if I couldn’t check them out first, although with Axminsters customer care, I guess you could always return it.

 

[g7g7g7g7]

Axminsters outlet on ebay sell "seconds" at about £35-50 on average and almost always have them in stock, which does not instil confidence in any way shape or form, they must get a LOT of duds.

 

[woodbloke66]

The Rider stuff is a bit of a 'curates egg', sometimes it's good and at other times it's just awful. The range is made in India by Soba and by and large, the planes are reasonable and offer good value, but you can occasionally get something that's truly appalling. That said, each and every plane is checked at Ax, so in theory, nothing should escape the net. Theory and practice though, as we know, are two entirely different things - Rob

 

[owen]

Try getting parts from axminster, they wanted £5 odd for a single screw when the one on my rider plane stripped it's threads, I managed to buy a pack of 10 exactly the same for a quid from the local discount shop. Ridiculous.